Chapter 20: First Nightmare Night

The day after his return, Von continued to walk through the streets of Ponyville as though everything was fine. All he wanted to do was have a normal day. He wanted to do something, ANYTHING that could cheer him up after the events of yesterday.

When he arrived the day before, he quickly went to his suite in the Canterlot castle. Celestia noticed how strange he was acting and decided to investigate.

"Von?" She called out and stopped the halfling in his tracks. "Is something the matter?"

"N-no. Of course not, princess." He lied. Von looked in the corner of his eye and noticed the solar alicorn approaching him. He blushed a crimson red and looked back towards the hall he was walking in. Just down the hall to his right was his room, his sanctuary. If he could get there, he could go to bed and forget about what had happened to him.

"Are you certain? Because you are not normally in such a hurry." She said. The tone of her voice was that of concern and motherly affection. Before he learned of his origins, he had looked up to Celestia as a mother figure. She was powerful, caring, intelligent and benevolent. Of course, those traits were common among rulers and those traits didn't fit anyone better than Princess Celestia. She stood to the side of him and lowered her head so that she was eye level. Von was sweating and that fact that she got closer didn't help a bit.

"I'm ok, p-princess. Really." He lied again. He then felt the caress of Celestia's wing on his back and he looked up at her.

"You look like you had a rough day. Did something interesting happen today?"

Something happened alright, he thought. He looked up at Celestia and saw the concern behind her smile. But not too long after their eyes met, the images of her (or rather the fake) playing with him, kissing him and various other things flashed in his head and he looked away from her. "I'm sorry. I'm just....not feeling well. Something tragic happened to me and I just want to forget about it."

"I see. I hope that you feel better then." She said. She tenderly kissed his forehead before she moved away from him and smiled after taking her wing away from him.

'I hope so, too." He quickly said before he walked again.

"Hold on." She called to him. He stopped again and his heart started racing. She lifted her head up and sniffed the air. "What is that musky smell?" Von stayed silent and his heart began to beat even faster.

"Um...I'm sure it's nothing, princess. Good night!" He yelled back as he ran into his room, slamming the door behind him. Celestia stared in confusion as he disappeared into his chambers. She sighed, deciding not to inquire further and turned to be on her way. However, a small smile appeared on her lips.

"Odd behavior, feeling jittery and a musky smell? ....Well, he is young. Luna and I were like that at one point." She said to herself.

"Like what, big sister?" Luna asked, coming up from where Celestia retreated from.

"It's nothing, Luna. Come. We must get the preparations ready for tomorrow." She said. Luna nodded her head in agreement and the two of them left.

As the moon rose up in the night sky, all was quiet in Canterlot. Well....almost quiet. Von was the only one unable to get any sleep, but nopony would be able to blame him after what happened.

"This is bad. This is very bad." He said to himself. "I did something that I'm never supposed to do! And even worse, I thought provocative things about the princess." He pressed his face into one of the pillows and yelled into it in frustration. He laid there for a couple of minutes before he turned around onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Even though it was faint, he still thought about the one thing that got to him most. "So...it's over. I guess it was bound to happen one day. Better for her to be happy with somepony else than me."

He wanted to think it was a dream, but the feeling in his heart didn't lie. Rainbow Dash had ended their relationship and went for a new stallion. He rolled over onto his side and pulled the blanket over him.

"Yeah...I should have expected this. Like anypony would really love a freak like me anyway. But...I still care about her. She's still my friend. That's not...so bad. Yeah." He said with a small smile. "But still...it hurts. I have to get over this somehow. Gotta think of something else. Let's see....uh....cupcakes.....sweet, juicy cupcakes." He licked his lips and began to drool as he laid his head down to sleep so he could awake the following day.

"There's gotta be something I can do." He groaned. He looked around at the shops and all of the houses and noticed something a little odd. The ponies were putting up decorations, like pumpkins and orange lights, setting up game areas and food stands. And some were even putting on outfits that made them look like little creatures. He had never seen this kind of thing before. The way things were in Ponyville were still so foreign to him, so he did the first thing he thought of: he decided to investigate. He turned and went over to a trio of familiar looking fillies who were helping with the decorations.

"Excuse me. Can I ask you 3 something?" He asked. The fillies turned around and his eyes widened when he saw the faces of Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"Oh. Hiya, Von. How are y'all doin today?" Asked Applebloom.

"Um...fine, I guess. So, what are the Cutie Mark Crusaders up to today?" He teased.

"We're preparing for the Nightmare Night Festival." Sweetie Belle said, dropping some apples into a barrel.

"Are you going to come? It'll be lots of fun." Scootaloo declared happily. Von stood there and blinked. He remembered when Princess Luna informed him of the Nightmare Night celebration. But he never celebrated Nightmare Night before. So he was clueless on the activities.

"Well...I guess. But I don't know what you do on Nightmare Night." He stated. The fillies stared at him with awe and huddled up. He could barely tell as he was still distracted by thoughts of the recent events, but he was sure that they were talking about him. They conversed among themselves for a minute, looking up at the half-breed for short seconds until they broke the circle and smiled at him.

"It's settled. We're gonna help you celebrate Nightmare Night like a real pony!" Applebloom declared.

"Wait, what?!" Von shouted in confusion.

Later that day over at Twilight's library, the unicorn and Spike were making their preparations for this years Nightmare Night. The two of them donned their costumes and revealed what they were going as to each other. Twilight, deciding to try something different, was dressed as a princess. The crown she wore (even if it was fake) was golden and had multi-colored gems embedded into it. She also wore a necklace that was similar to Celestia's. Spike, on the other hand, was dressed like a knight in shining armor. Actually, it was tin foil shaped into a helmet and suit and he wielded a wooden sword.

"This year is going to be great. But why didn't you want to dress as Starswirl or somepony else this year?" Asked the young drake. Twilight giggled.

"Well nopony seems to ever know what I dress up as. So I decided to dress up as something more well known. Besides, I thought it'd be fun to dress up like a princess. It makes me feel--"

"Like you're just like Celestia?" Spike teased. Twilight blushed and nodded her head to him.

"I've always wanted to know what it'd be like to be her. But I know I could never be Celestia. So Nightmare Night is as close as I can get. Plus, I can take some notes on this experience of mine for this year." She said clopping her hooves together. Spike sighed but smiled at Twilight. He always thought her bookworm personality was rather cute, but nothing could compare to him than the beauty, style and charm of his precious Rarity. He had a lovestruck look on his face as Twilight approached him, ready to go out into town and she waved her hoof in front of his face.

"Come on, my faithful knight. It is your duty to escort your princess into town safely." She said with a playful regal tone. Spike snapped out of his trance and played along with Twilight's game.

"Of course. Let us be on our way, your majesty." He said as he bowed. The two of them laughed and walked out of the library together. They arrived in the center of Ponyville to find their friends waiting. Applejack was behind one of the booths and was wearing her old scarecrow costume from last Nightmare Night. Pinkie Pie was dressed as a clown. Typical Pinkie Pie. But oddly enough, Kamen was nowhere to be found.

"Hi Pinkie Pie. Hi Applejack." Twilight greeted.

"Howdy Twilight." Applejack responded.

"Hi!" Pinkie said with her normal, bubbly voice. The three of them started to chat a bit until one curious baby dragon looked at Pinkie and decided to speak up.

"Where's Kamen?" Spike asked. Pinkie shrugged.

"I dunno. He said he'd be--"

"Psst." A voice whispered. The four of them turned their heads and saw a hooded pony come over to them. He looked shady and definitely up to no good. He crept over to them and they could see a smile underneath his hood.

"Got somethin' that might interest ya." He said in a low tone. "I got gems of the rarest kind and I'm givin' them away...for a small price." Spike licked his lips after hearing him mention gems and stepped forward but Twilight held him back.

"Where did you get these 'gems' of yours?" She asked as she eyed the suspicious pony. He smiled at her.

"Alright. I'll tell ya. But you can't tell anypony. Come closer..." He said. Twilight felt uncomfortable around him, but she decided to go along with it. She leaned in closer.

"Closer." He said again and Twilight leaned in closer. The shady pony smiled and lifted off his cloak to reveal a monstrous face and started to utter in a strange, frightening language. The sudden appearance startled Twilight and she fell backwards into the apple-bobbing bucket. The shady pony and Pinkie Pie laughed and pointed at her.

"Oh wow! I had no idea you were that easy to scare, Twilight! Hahahaha!" The shady pony said in a familiar voice. Twilight poked her now dripping wet head out of the bucket and saw the pony take off his mask, revealing Kamen underneath.

"Kamen! That wasn't funny!" She shrieked, getting out of the bucket and trying to dry herself off. Applejack couldn't help but laugh a little, but she was mainly focused on fixing what Kamen caused Twilight to mess up.

"Wasn't funny? Please. You looked like you were gonna pee yourself! Haha!" He laughed. He fell onto his back, pointing and laughing the whole time until tears came to his eyes and he started to cough. "N-now look at what you did!" He said with a smile. Pinkie Pie joined in and started to laugh with him until eventually, they all started to laugh. However, their joy was quickly interrupted. A puff of smoke appeared behind them all and in its place was a strange creature. It had the head of a pony and a body made up of many different kinds of creatures. Twilight recognized this creature and needless to say, she was stunned.

"I-it can't be...." She mumbled. The mix-match creature laughed and looked down at her and his full visage was revealed. The creature was none other than Discord.

"Oh, I'm so happy to be back after all this time. I must admit, it's gotten easier for me to break out of seals now." The draconequus said. Applejack, Pinkie and Twilight glared at him. After what he had done last time, they never wanted to see Discord's face again. They were sure that they sealed him away in stone once more, bound to the Canterlot Gardens. And yet here he was, standing proudly before them. "And you ponies are having a celebration and didn't invite me? That makes me sad." He mocked, wiping away an invisible tear.

"Discord! Why are y'all here? Ain't you had enough of ruinin' our lives?" Applejack asked. Discord smiled.

"Of course not, dear Applejack. I had only just begun back then." He said, stepping forward to them. Spike tried to stay tough, but Discord was too intimidating to him. Afraid, he hid behind Twilight, who looked back at him but quickly turned back to Discord.

"Well you may have gotten out of your prison again, but this time we'll make sure you stay imprisoned!" Twilight declared.

"How, pray tell, are you going to do that? You need the Elements of Harmony to turn me into stone again. And since all of you aren't here, I intend on having some fun with you." He said. He laughed as he began to get closer to them but suddenly, out of nowhere, Kamen got up and darted at Discord, pinning him to the ground and proceeded to punch him. The draconequus covered his face as Kamen unleashed a barrage of hooves on him.

"Not so tough now, are ya? Are ya?!" He said with much gusto. Discord panicked and looked at the pegasus..

"Stop! It's me! It's me, you idiot!!!" Discord yelled in a highly familiar voice. Kamen stopped his assault and looked down at him. Discord uncovered his face and gave Kamen an annoyed look before he pushed him off. He stood up and in a bright flash of green flames, he transformed into Von.

"Von?!" Shouted all five of them. The young halfling started to laugh at them and pointed his hoof in their direction.

"Y-you should see the looks on your faces. Priceless!" He said, falling onto his back. Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie narrowed their eyes at him for the fact that he did something so reckless and the fact that they remember Discord saying that same thing, but managed to crack a smile. When they looked at Von, who finally stopped laughing, they noticed that he was wearing some kind of armor. It was dark purple and he was also wearing a matching helmet. Twilight had seen this kind of armor before but it took her a moment for her to realize where it was she had seen it.

"Is that armor supposed to be the armor of Princess Luna's guards?" She asked. Von looked at himself and smiled as he answered.

"Yeah. Rather, it was modeled after the armor her guards wear. It was custom made for me to wear for this celebration of yours." He explained. "I was planning on staying in the form of Discord until Celestia recommended that I don't. It makes sense since there are so many little fillies and colts here for this."

"That's another thing I wanted to ask. When did you learn how to transform? You never did it before." Twilight stated.

"Yeah. You ain't never attempted to do somethin' like that the whole time you were with us." Applejack said. Von smiled and looked behind him as Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo ran to his sides.

"It was actually thanks to these three." He declared. "See, when I came to town earlier, I had no idea what this whole Nightmare Night thing was about. So they decided to teach me personally and dragged me over to a little clubhouse which, by the way, needs a bigger doorway." He said, looking at the three fillies. They blushed and kicked their hooves against the ground as Von continued to speak. "They told me what Nightmare Night was all about and I decided that it'd be fun to scare somepony. But I didn't have a costume. I was stumped and tried my hardest to think of something to do."

"So we told him that maybe he could use his magic to transform into somethin'." Applebloom stated. Sweetie Belle jumped up and smiled as she looked towards the group.

"We heard that he was....what was it called....oh yeah! We heard he was a changeling and we looked them up and figured out that he's capable of morphing on his own." She said.

"He told us he didn't know how, so we had him practice." Scootaloo declared. "He did pretty badly. I mean really really really REALLY--"

"Ok. I think they get the point, Scootaloo." Von mumbled through his teeth, shutting the orange pegasus up. "So...I tried changing into something small to start out. I chose them and got it to work. Then I tried something bigger and continued to work my way up until...well, you guys already saw." He smiled sheepishly. The girls smiled and patted his back.

"Well that sounds like some mighty tough work you had to do to try and master somethin' like that." Applejack said. Von smiled at her.

"Thanks. But right now...this is my first Nightmare Night and I want to have some fun." He said with a giddy voice. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!!!" He shouted and before anypony could respond, he ran off. Kamen shook his head and wrapped his hoof around Pinkie.

"He's like a little colt. Oh well. Come on. Let's get going before he has all the fun." He declared and ran off with the rest of them following close behind.

BGM 1

Von was constantly moving about during the Nightmare Night celebration. He started from the spider throw game, moving onto the apple bobbing and got some cotton candy. For his first time being in this celebration, he was having the time of his life. The pain he had felt the other felt like it had been completely washed away. But he felt like there was something wrong. Some kind of sickening feeling. But that was probably because of how much food he ate.

"Maybe I need to lay off this sweet stuff," He told himself as he threw away a stick of cotton candy he had halfway eaten. "It's starting to get to me. Ooooo....." He held his stomach and looked around. He started to get dizzy and he felt something rise up in him. He put a hoof up to his muzzle and began to gag. He was gonna throw up. He frantically looked around until he noticed a trash bin nearby. Seeking the need to release, he ran over to it and dunked his head inside and let up all that he had consumed.

"Blergh!!!! Blagh!!!!" was all that was heard coming from him. All the little fillies and colts and other ponies that were around at the time stopped and stared in disgust before going on their merry way. Von gagged and threw up once more until he felt a pat on his back. His head shot up and he looked behind him to see Twilight and the rest. A glass of water was levitating in front of him, surrounded by her magical aura and he took a sip to rid the taste of vomit (and the aftertaste of his mother) from his mouth.

"Maybe this will be a lesson fer ya to learn," Applejack started. "Don't wander off on your own." Von smiled at Applejack and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. She was right. It was rather idiotic of him to go off on his own, acting the way he did. Especially during a celebration he's never been a part of. It made him feel happy to know that somepony was looking out for him. He turned away and looked off into the direction of the Everfree Forest.

I wonder how mom is doing..., He thought. While he was thinking, his friends continued to talk amongst themselves.

"Hey. Where's Rainbow Dash?" Kamen asked. The moment Rainbow Dash's name escaped his lips, Von's ears twitched, dragging him away from his thoughts as he turned to look at them.

"She said she was staying home today for this years Nightmare Night." Twilight said. "She said she was expecting somepony over." Von cringed at that last part, earning the attention of Kamen.

"Really? Who? She would told us who it was if it was somepony we knew. Maybe it's somepony we don't know! But that's strange. I know just about everypony. Hmm...I wonder who it is." Pinkie said.

"It's a Pegasus," Von started. "A stallion with a light blue coat and black mane." Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack and Spike looked at Von in shock.

"Von? Do you know this guy?" Spike asked.

"No." Von deadpanned. He walked away and didn't look back, leaving his friends confused but Applejack was the only one that KNEW why he looked the way he did just now.

"What's wrong with Von?" Pinkie asked. Twilight shrugged and Spike kept his mouth shut to avoid getting involved.

"Ah say we leave him alone fer now," Applejack said. "He probably just ain't feeling well." Regardless of what Applejack said, they were all still worried about Von. But they decided to have faith in him and went off to continue celebrating. All except for Kamen.

"Dash dumped him, huh?" Kamen asked. Applejack cringed upon hearing Kamen's question. She turned to him and held her head low.

"How'd you find out?" She asked. Kamen laughed and patted her on the back.

"I have many ways to figuring out this kind of stuff. I have eyes ev--"

"Y'all just took a wild guess, didn't ya?" Applejack interrupted.

"Uh.....yeah. Yeah, I just guessed. But part of me expected this as well. I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid because of this." He exclaimed.

Von continued to walk through the streets of Ponyville, paying no mind to what was around him. The minute he had heard the name of his ex, the event of their break-up echoed through his mind. He'd hoped that he could ignore it and just forget that it ever happened. But the fact remained that he could not escape what was in the past, even if that past was yesterday.

"Dammit. Why can't I just forget about it?! I don't love her and she doesn't love me. So why is it so hard to move on?" He asked himself. Von stopped walking and sighed as he lowered his head. Just then, he heard something. It was the voice of a mare he'd never heard before. It was beautiful and sounded exotic. He lifted his head and turned to the source of the voice and his eyes widened. The voice was coming from a mare with a black and white coat, complete with a matching mane. Her mane was smoothed out to her sides and she had fake spiders adorning it. But what really surprised Von was that he had seen this mare before.

"It's her! From my dream...." He muttered.

BGM 2

This striped mare was beautiful beyond words to Von. She looked mature, intelligent and she seemed to be great with kids as there were many little fillies and colts around her. He had never seen her anywhere before that dream, but now that he finally got to see her in person, he was dumbfounded. His heart was racing so fast that it almost popped out of his chest. He felt this way with Rainbow Dash, but it wasn't this bad. Or in this case, it wasn't this good.

"Who....is that?" He asked himself. As he questioned the identity of the mare, she looked in his direction, having noticed him staring and their eyes met. Von's face flushed with red and his heart started to beat faster. They kept staring at each other for a good while until Von averted his eyes from her. When he looked back, he noticed that the striped mare was blushing as well, which prompted him to smile. She smiled, too and was about to approach him but a filly dressed like a baker tugged on the sleeve on the mare and she turned and walked away. But as she walked away, she gave him a quick glance and went on her way. Von smiled and started to walk back into Ponyville, but his mood was alot better than earlier.

That mare...she was so beautiful. I don't know who she is, but she was in that dream of mine, He thought. But the way I acted in my dream was as if I knew her. So....maybe....that wasn't a dream...but it was a vision instead. This is so weird. I might need to talk to the princess about this. When he reached Sugarcube Corner, he saw his friends waiting for him and they greeted him with warm smiles all around. He returned their smiles with one of his own and stepped towards them. This is the best night ever. Next Chapter: Grounding Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 38 Minutes